4 times highly publicised help towards ex-boxing great Conjestina Achieng fizzled out

- Ida Odinga, wife of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was among first Kenyans to run to the boxer's rescue

- The boxer's career peak became a mirage after she got mentally sick in 2011

- Female celebrities in Kenya organised a boxing tournament to raise money for her medical bills at Mathari mental hospital in 2012

- Her fans in Kisumu also raised KSh 800,000 in 2016 to free her from hospital detention

- Musicians and comedians held another fundraiser in 2012 to contribute to her rehabilitation cost

- Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is the latest to offer help to the former champion from her misery, promising to give her a job after recovering

Conjestina Achieng was once Kenya's finest female pugilist winning 17 out of her 27 international bouts, eight through knockout until 2011 when psychological challenges boxed her to the flow.

The boxer who was fifth in global standings and first African woman to hold the Women International Boxing Federation (WIBF) middleweight belt prematurely left the ring due to mental illness and quickly sank into poverty.

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All that was left of the pugilist nicknamed 'Hands of Stone' was her past glory and famous byte "kujeni mapema, nitamaliza kazi mapema" (come early, I will win the bout early), a situation which elicited sympathy among her supporters and Kenyans in general.

1. Ida Odinga, wife of Opposition leader Raila Odinga visited the boxer who blazed the trail for many women globally at her shack in Baba Dogo slums in September 2012.

Ida who found Achieng 41, in a tattered state economically and psychologically and deep into drug abuse took her to Mathari Mental Hospital for rehabilitation.

2. A month later in October 2012, female celebrities including musician Suzanne Owiyo, TV personalities Lilian Muli, Julie Gichuru and Pinky Ghelani under the guidance of Ida organised a boxing tournament dubbed Women for Conje and raised KSh 153, 000 to aid her medical bills at Mathari.

Ida Odinga, wife of Opposition leader Raila Odinga was among the first Kenyans to run to the rescue of the former boxing champion. Photo: Daily Nation.Source: UGC

"It is sad to see a woman who has been Kenya's ambassador globally detained in hospital and we believed we could do something to help in reciprocation for building our brand," said Muli then.

3. Achieng's situation did not get better and she found herself detained in a psychiatric ward at Avenue Hospital, Kisumu in October 2013.

Her medical bill had accumulated to KSh 530,000, prompting her fans led by a cleric Ken Wachiaga to hold a fundraiser generating KSh 800,000 which helped discharge the former star.

"My major problem was stress. I vow that I will make a comeback to the ring. I just needed people around me because I was on my own. I did not even have money for the gym," said a much improved Achieng who came out of the hospital beaming with hope then.

In October 2016, the former champion was admitted at Kisumu county hospital after her condition deteriorated with no one to help her.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is the latest Kenyan to come to the rescue of Conjestina Achieng. Photo: UGCSource: Facebook

All these efforts seemed to have been unfruitful as the boxer was captured in a recent 2018 video still in a bad state, reflecting nothing of the champion she was.

The video moved Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who organised for her a flight to Nairobi on Friday, November 2, to commence rehabilitation in collaboration with National Agency for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA)

'I’ll personally ensure Congestina is fully treated and rehabilitated, before she’s assisted to get a stable job to enable her become financially independent," read part of Sonko's Facebook post seen by TUKO.co.ke.

It is, however, unclear how the latest of public rescue efforts by Sonko would be effective, the four other instances having sank the former boxing gem into unbearable misery.

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